Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Dalton narrowed his eyes and said with certainty. Cross Cutting, it was something very common inside a dungeon and happened to a lot of adventurers.

It was a term that was invented by the adventurers and it occurs when one adventurer team stumbles upon the path of another party and uses them as bait to get out of any sticky situation. It was something that only an adventurer knew and was looked down upon by all in their profession.

Hence to Dalton and all, it was very much clear as to who those people who confronted them were. Their comrades from the other big guilds, the truth might sound ugly, but it was the truth. And it at least cleared the confusion that it was not the doing of a monster that can turn itself into a humanoid form.

Be that as it may, this discovery in itself was very problematic since it showed that the monsters weren't the only thing they needed to be careful of proceeding forward in this dungeon. They also needed to be careful of the other guilds conspiring against them.

"Sir Dalton, there is no way of telling what the items were inside the chest just by their lingering aura" a subordinate reported.

"I see, you did a good job, go and take a rest. We will take a break here before joining up with Hick and the others" with Dalton's orders, the group moved to take some rest.

Meanwhile, somewhere within those twisting and winding gorge, a small group of people was currently gathering together inside a cave that was made artificially. These groups of people were all hiding their identities by donning a robe and a mask. They were joined by another group of people who just came in.

"Oh! If it isn't Kaiser's group. Weren't you guys tasked with acquiring that treasure chest guarded by hundreds of fire demon apes and so?" one of the masked men among the group asked the team that just entered.

"Yeah, fortunately the Sea god's trident cleared that monster colony for us. We were able to take advantage when they were all weakened and acquire the items on that treasure chest amidst the chaos" the team that was referred to as Kaiser's group, reported.

"I didn't think it would be the Sea god's trident to find that treasure chest. What happened to them, were you guys followed?".

Kaiser, the leader of the group that confronted the Sea god's trident shook his head and assured "Don't worry Norman, they should be busy fending the monsters that we lured. There is no way they would have the time to send people after us".

Everybody felt relieved by those words, they did not want to be enemies with one of the top five guilds. It was a good thing that none of the three tridents was present during this expedition. If they were, it wouldn't have gone their way.

"I wonder about that" A voice suddenly interjected from the entrance.

A new group of people entered the cave; however, unlike the rest they did not bother to hide their identities. A badge depicting a vast sea and a lone sword could be seen hanging on their chest.

"Dylan, even if you do not care, think about your guild at least. It wouldn't bode well even for your Absolute Sea guild if the other guilds found out that you have been conspiring behind their backs" Norman spoke, although his face could be seen, judging from his tone it looked like he was quite displeased by Dylan's actions.

"Oh please, that disguise makes me look silly. I would rather kill all of the people and leave no evidence behind than wear that thing" Dylan remarked shrugging his shoulders.

He and the members of the absolute sea guild that was following behind him nonchalantly entered the cave and threw three corpses in the middle of the cave.

"They are?" Norman asked.

"Heh, they were following Kaiser. I found them tracking you guys so I quickly disposed of them and brought their corpses here" Dylan explained.

"What?!" Kaiser was stunned, he believed that the sea god's trident would be too busy to track who knew that they had sent people after him.

"He should be Hicks, one of the finest assassins of the Sea god's trident" Norman identified one of the corpses.

"Kaiser did you accidentally reveal your guild?".

"That cannot be, I was prudent enough to not reveal any of the skills that could associate me with my guild" Kaiser denied.

"Well, you guys don't have to worry, I killed them as soon as if found them, so I don't think they were able to relay much information back to their guild" Dylan spoke with confidence.

"I hope that is so. If any of us got found out, it will encompass all our three guilds, the Absolute Sea Guild, the thunderstorm and the Six River's Streax, none of us will get out of its unscathed. At that time, we would become the enemy of the entire expedition army. It would be better for all of us that we cooperate with each other".

All of them nodded at Norman's words.

"Alright, enough with the heavy words now. Were you guys able to acquire the items from those treasure chests?" Dylan changed the topic of their conversation to the most important matter.

"Yeah, it was a success"…

"No problem from my side either" Kaiser and Norman nodded.

"I see. Then counting the ones I acquired and the ones we already collected, we have gotten our hands on four of them" Dylan took out a round emerald green orb the size of a fist from his space ring.

The moment the object appeared, a vast natural aura brimming with life and vitality immediately filled the place. There was no need to even use Analysis, just based on the aura alone, one could tell it was no ordinary item but an unparalleled treasure that would make anyone in this world covet them.

Yes, the thing in his hand was none other than a spirit orb from a forest spring spirit. The treasure recorded in the legends and ancient texts said to have the ability to raise one's bloodline and power to new and greater heights.

The ultimate reward promised that was promised to them by the grey haired man, they couldn't believe they found it on this floor and inside the treasure chests no less.

​ "Yeah, they are even worth making enemies with the top five guilds" Norman agreed, sitting inside his space rings was a fist sized round emerald green spirit orbs similar to the one in Dylan's hand.

"I was a little uncertain about this whole thing at first. But seeing the result, I cannot help but agree with you guys. Teaming up with your two guilds had brought unbelievable rewards. Our effort would surely please the guild masters" Kaiser added.

"Well, I agree with you two. Who would have expected that our three guilds would stumble at the same place and find the secrets of the treasure chests of this floor before anyone? Because of the ingenuity of our guild masters, we will be able to get more rewards than any of the other guilds" Dylan smiled, looking at the spirit orbs excitedly…

The 45th floor although it looked simple with nothing but rocks, it hid a shocking secret. The 45th floor had quite a number of treasure chest spawned that was heavily guarded by colonies of Fire Demon Apes.

These treasure chests contained riches and items that were so rare and priceless that even these big guilds of the kingdom weren't able to stay composed in front of it. Some chests had numerous grade [3] mana crystals, while some had Gold grimoires.

Some contained high levelled core stones and serenity stones, while some had artifacts of tier [C] and above. The treasure chest was filled with exceptional riches; however, although few in number, there were also some special treasure chests spawned that released vast natural energy.

The contents of those treasure chests were astonishingly the super rare treasure, spirit orbs that were sitting inside the space rings of these three.

"Are the other guilds aware of it yet?" Norman asked.

"Since the Sea god's trident guild didn't seem aware of the items inside the treasure chest, I would say not all guilds have found out about it. But I would say that the news about the spirit orbs being inside the treasure chest should be spreading soon amongst all the guilds?" Kaiser thought before replying.

"In that case, we should hurry up and join with our teams. We have already offended quite a lot of guilds and caused them to suffer many casualties. They wouldn't stay silent for long plus I feel like the assassin guild is onto us. We should disperse before they get to us" Dylan advised.

The other two leaders and the members they led nodded their heads before pointing at the corpses.

"What should we do with them?"...

"Just leave them here, the dungeon would absorb them in no time"…

A huge piece of news that shocked all the listeners to their very core, spread amongst the guilds six hours after the exploration into the 45th floor.

The news was so shocking that, many of the guilds had difficulty believing it. The crimson demolition guild that was led by guild leader Arwen Lantz, stumbled upon a treasure chest that had a spirit orb inside it.

The report came from a trusted source hence the other guilds had no choice but to believe it and soon many such news started appearing from everywhere.

Spirit orbs, just the name was enough to drive the guilds into searching for them crazily. All the guilds actively started hunting monsters and opening treasure chests leaving no place unturned.